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Ending State Tax Residency – Moving outside of the US | International Tax Lawyer Santa Monica

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Good morning and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office video blog! My name is Eugene Sherayzen; I am an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

Today, I am continuing a series of blogs from Santa Monica, California. In previous blogs, I raised the issue of US citizens moving to live outside of the United States and I’ve addressed the first problem of local tax compliance. Today, I’d like to talk to you about the second problem; that is the ending of state tax residency. Let me be clear about what I mean here; what I mean is ending local state tax residency, obviously not federal tax residency. Regarding federal tax residency, you will have as long as you are a US citizen.

For example, the state of California has its own state tax residency rules and while they consider you a tax resident, they will tax you on your worldwide income. This is similar situation with respect to states like Minnesota, New York, New Jersey – basically all of the states that have income tax and even those who don’t also have their own state tax residency rules.

Why is that important? Why do you need to end your state tax residency or at least consider doing so before you leave the United States? For a very simple reason: If you don’t, then the state will continue to tax you on your worldwide income even though, technically, you live outside of the United States.

I can give you an example from my Minnesota practice. A client of mine left for the Middle East and thought he ended his Minnesota tax residency; he lived there for four years and then all of a sudden, the state of Minnesota contacted him and argued that he should be paying Minnesota taxes on his worldwide income for all of these four years. The local accountants, unfortunately didn’t do a good job; in the interview, they misguided him and he came to me and we took care of this problem. The problem is that there is always a cost in neglecting these types of issues. You need to make sure that you do everything that is required to end your state residency before you leave the United States. For example, if you are required to give notice to your local county, then absolutely do so. If you are required to put your house up for sale, then absolutely do so. If you are required to move your banking outside of the state, then do so. State tax residency rules can be very complex, so it’s important that you explore this issue ahead of time and then take care of it before you leave.

Thank you for watching, until the next time.

Foreign Account Disclosed on Form 8938 But Not FinCEN Form 114 | FBAR Lawyer Beverly Hills

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Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office video blog; my name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

Today, I’d like to talk to you about a situation where an account was disclosed on Form 8938 but it was not disclosed on FBAR or as it’s known by it’s official name, FinCEN Form 114.

Does your disclosure on Form 8938 replace the FBAR nondisclosure? That’s a question I often hear from taxpayers who come and talk to me. The answer is no; unfortunately, just because you disclosed an account on Form 8938, that does not in any way eliminate your obligation to report the same account on Form 114 or FBAR.

Will it help your case, that is, will it help your non-willfulness case? Yes, it will but you still have to file your FBARs; you still have to disclose on FBARs all of the foreign accounts that you are required to disclose; otherwise, you are on the hook for the penalties. They may be non-willful penalties, but it will depend on the particular facts and circumstances of your case.

If you would like to know more about your FBAR compliance, you can contact me at (952) 500-8159 or you can email me at [email protected].

Thank you for watching, until the next time.

Argentina: Escaping Inflation Through Investment in US Companies | US International Tax Attorney

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Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina and this blog is part of a series of blogs from the city concerning how Argentinians battle inflation. How is it that they are able to escape the affects of inflation, at least those Argentinians that have the ability to do so?

In the previous blog, I discussed the transfer of funds to personal account to personal account, whether directly or indirectly. Today, I’d like to talk about a different type of transaction. A transaction that gives Argentinians an opportunity not only to transfer funds but also to invest them effectively, but at the same time, unlike the first transaction, this transaction brings them in direct contact with US international tax law. This is a transaction where Argentinians, using their Argentinian businesses invest in US businesses that are related to their Argentinian businesses.

One of the biggest businesses here in Argentina is of course beef, beef production and export. Some of the families here in Argentina have already started going about the process of using their exports to the United States as a way to also find a good return on their capital. Now, investing in US entities of course means that they become directly or indirectly US taxpayers with their numerous obligations. For example, let’s say that an Argentinian business aquires 50% of a US business. Since the foreign ownership is more than 25%, the corporation now has to file a Form 5472 to describe the transactions between the Argentinian business and their new US subsidiary. This is just one example. If a US business becomes a partnership because of this investment, then you also have to deal with the tax withholding issues as well as the potential obligation of the Argentinian business or the owners of the Argentinian business or Argentinian owners of the investment directly bypassing their Argentinian business to actually file returns here in the United States.

Investment in US businesses is a very powerful way to escape Argentinian inflation, but at the same time it is the one that carries higher risks, higher compliance risks as well as higher risk of being subject to US taxation.

If you would like to learn more about investing in US entities through a foreign business, you can call me at (952) 500-8159 or you can email me at [email protected]. Thank you for watching, until the next time.

Foreign Account Disclosed on FBAR but not Form 8938 | Los Angeles FBAR Lawyer California

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Good afternoon and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

Today, I’m continuing a series of blogs from Beverly Hills, California.

I’d like to talk to you about the situation where a foreign account was disclosed on FBAR but not on Form 8938. Is that something a taxpayer should be concerned about? And the answer is ‘yes’. A disclosure of an account on FBAR does not replace the required Form 8938 disclosure. Just because you disclosed an asset on FBAR does not mean that you will automatically avoid a Form 8938 penalty.

What it means is that you have a stronger case for non-willfulness. Depending on circumstances, you may have a case for reasonable cause; but you still have to take care of that Form 8938 noncompliance.

How to take care of that? It depends on your facts and circumstances. Once an attorney studies your facts, he will be able to determine the most proper way to voluntarily disclose your noncompliance thereby by limiting an potentially eliminating your exposure to Form 8938 penalties.

If you would like to learn more about Form 8938 compliance and what to do in case of Form 8938 noncompliance, you can call me at (952) 500-8159 or you can email me at [email protected]. Thank you for watching, until the next time.

FATCA and The End of Swiss Bank Secrecy | Chicago International Tax Lawyer & Attorney

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Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

Today, I’m continuing my series of blogs from Chicago, Illinois in the United States and I’m actually in Grant Park, the park where Obama gave his famous speech. It is interesting because it was precisely under the Obama administration that FATCA was passed into law. So, this park has a very special significance for me as an international tax attorney because it was precisely FATCA the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, that completely changed the entire landscape of international tax compliance.

Why? Well, because FATCA provided that third party verification that the IRS needed to find out about people who were non-compliant with their FBARs as well as foreign income reporting. It was FATCA that forced foreign banks to affectively report on their US owners of foreign bank accounts. It was FATCA that gave the teeth that the IRS needed together with the US Department of Justice to enforce US international tax laws concerning foreign income and foreign account reporting in Switzerland. In fact, we can say that FATCA was the principle reason why there wasn’t Swiss bank tax compliance in 2013 and also ended Swiss Bank Secrecy as we know it.

In a future blog, I will continue talking about US international tax issues that concern Chicago and the people who live here.

Thank you for watching, until the next time.